Territory diesel not delayed

Ford Australia president, Bill Osborne, has defended the progress of the Territory diesel project, saying it remains on schedule.

Ford's upper medium SUV was an immediate hit when it debuted in petrol form in April 2004. Almost since its launch, however, customers have lamented the lack of a turbodiesel variant. Despite largely successful measures aimed at trimming the petrol-engined variants' thirst, the increase in fuel prices has accelerated demand for a turbodiesel version.

A turbodiesel variant is also viewed as pivotal if the Territory is to play any role in Ford's export wishlist.

It has been a commonly held belief that Ford Australia's role in developing the all-new T6 (the replacement for Ford's Ranger and Mazda BT-50 light commercials) had delayed the arrival of the turbodiesel Territory. Osborne denies this has been the case.

"No, I wouldn't say that [the T6 has delayed the diesel Territory]," Osborne told the Carsales Network.

"We revved up to do T6 at a time when we still had these other programs going [Ed: including turbodiesel Territory] and we never delayed any of the programs as a result of T6.

"I would say that ramping up T6 was a big challenge for us. There's no question about that -- getting a group of anywhere from 500-700 engineers together is a major task -- but in all honesty we haven't had any formal program delays," he said.

"We have not moved a ‘job one' [Ed: scheduled production start] for any of our major programs [like Territory diesel] but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there was a major strain on our organisation because we've got a lot on our plate right now," Osborne explained.

According to Osborne the scope of a program like diesel Territory meant the timeline was always going to be around three years.

"I don't think it's been a question of delay, it takes a certain amount of time to calibrate a powertrain with quality, so from the time you make the decision to the time you bring home the program, [it is] very easy 36 months.

"Maybe you could criticise us and say the process to calibrate is too long, but I won't debate whether that's a fair criticism or not," Osborne said.

"If your question is, was the [original] decision [to build a diesel] timely enough [then], I'm probably not the right person to answer that -- I wasn't here four years ago. I don't know what the market was like four years ago... But, I can tell you that from the time that we made the decision, we've been at it full on to try to get the vehicle here as quickly as possible," Osborne explained.

Despite speculation that Territory would debut a new-generation Ford-designed turbodiesel powertrain, the local boss confirmed it would use an existing, proven powerplant.

"We won't introduce new diesel technology here in Australia. We will use diesel technology from Europe," Osborne said.

This all but confirms Territory will use a version of the PSA-sourced V6 turbodiesel powerplant that has also been used in Jaguar and Land Rover models. The current betting is on a 3.0-litre single turbo variant.

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